The Energon Pub

A warning to all: Apparently some Commemorative Series K.O.s are making the rounds now.

For those not familiar with the series, back in 2002 Hasbro put out a series of re-issues of many G1 toys and called them the Commemorative Series. They were exclusive to Toys R' Us back then. The series was numbered from Optimus Prime in series 1, all the way up to Astrotrain and Ricochet in series 9.

The KO's making the rounds, have very similar packaging to Hasbro's, mimicking the grid pattern, and almost all labels and logos including the Hasbro Logo.

However in a move Hasbro would never ever do, they have a Adult Collectible label on them, instead of Hasbro's regular Choking Hazard Label.

In the case of Thundercracker seen at Amazon.com he also seems to feature a gray cockpit, rather than the normal Orange all versions, including Takara's releases, have had.

Amazon isn't really selling this Knockoff, its third party sellers through Amazon. Additionally there's no way to tell if all the sellers are selling that particular piece, but only that the picture used is of a KO.

So beware when buying these re-issues.

The photo in question is likely a mock-up. Until someone gets one of these fakes in-hand, I won't believe it.

I do hope this is a mock up. People right now think it's kool to get these knock offs, but in the long run this is going to hurt collecting as we know it.

headsortails wrote:I do hope this is a mock up. People right now think it's kool to get these knock offs, but in the long run this is going to hurt collecting as we know it.

I wouldn't say that KO's will "hurt collecting" in the long run.. I think the mooks who keep on buying stuff on impulse and not doing research will hurt collecting. It's been my experience that in this hobby, if something is too good to be true, it's normally a shined up turd.

By only from known sources, do exstensive research on your seller etc etc. It's not hard to spot some of these fakes. Tha hardest part is fighting the impulse to buy crap in disguise..

LiKwid wrote:

headsortails wrote:I do hope this is a mock up. People right now think it's kool to get these knock offs, but in the long run this is going to hurt collecting as we know it.

I wouldn't say that KO's will "hurt collecting" in the long run.. I think the mooks who keep on buying stuff on impulse and not doing research will hurt collecting. It's been my experience that in this hobby, if something is too good to be true, it's normally a shined up turd.

By only from known sources, do exstensive research on your seller etc etc. It's not hard to spot some of these fakes. Tha hardest part is fighting the impulse to buy crap in disguise..

I can agree with that. I used to be really impulsive at buying. I just got lucky that I haven't bought a KO by accident. Now i'm better at controling my spending.

ko's are ok as long as you know thats what you are buying.
I would like to know how people felt when hasbro started doing the reissues,did people feel that they were going to hurt the value of the originals I for one got back in to the hobby because of the reissues that hasbro made and i really started buying just about all the new classics and generations because i could spend more money on what i saved buying ko's. What are peoples thoughts on this issue.